3 Tips for Mastering UX Design for Mobile Websites

You may have heard about the UX design process for mobile devices before — probably when someone uses the term “responsive web design” — and if you’ve been a little confused by what it means, you’re not alone! Even the most talented UX designers get hung up on what UX web design really means for mobile web purposes… but the good news is that it’s really not too difficult to understand, once you get started!

Here are a few of the most important fundamentals of UX design for mobile web:

Don’t ignore mobile web. This is probably the most basic part of mobile UX web design, but it’s still important enough to mention that if you aren’t optimizing your business’s website for mobile devices, you’re definitely losing some potential customers. It’s estimated that around 80% of adults have a smartphone these days, and a recent HubSpot survey found that around 25% of Americans with smartphones and/or tablets only use those mobile devices to access the internet.

Remember that media queries matter. With CSS3, media queries will affect the content that’s shown depending on what device is being used to access it. When you understand how media queries work, you’ll be able to pick the correct CSS rules for your website.

Use proportions, not measured size layouts. This is probably one of the biggest details affecting the usability of a mobile website, simply because there are too many mobile devices that display different sizes and it’s impossible to create a version of your website for each one. If you focus on your layout in terms of proportions rather than fit sizes, you’ll ensure that your website is accessible and easy to navigate no matter what device is used to access it.

When all else fails, just think about how you might perceive your website if you were visiting it for the first time — would it be easy to navigate if you didn’t know where the navigation bar is, and would it be easy to read the content if you didn’t write it yourself? This approach is one of the best ways to master UX design basics for mobile web!